Reservist charged in mistaken killing of civilian who responded to terror shooting
Aviad Frija hit with softened manslaughter rap for shooting Yuval Castleman; indictment says off-duty soldier kept firing despite calls from colleague and victim to stop
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Military prosecutors on Thursday charged an off-duty IDF soldier over the accidental killing of an armed bystander who shot and killed two terrorists carrying out an attack in Jerusalem last year.
Staff Sgt. (res.) Aviad Frija will face a charge of manslaughter under diminished responsibility, in the shooting death of Yuval Castleman nearly a year ago, prosecutors said, accusing the reservist of ignoring attempts to keep him from opening fire.
A charge with diminished responsibility is meant to soften the accusation by taking into account an extenuating mental state, such as the fog of a terror attack.
Castleman, an armed civilian, was driving near the entrance to Jerusalem on November 30, 2023, when he saw two terrorists opening fire at a bus stop. Castleman ran from his car and shot the assailants dead, ending the attack, the indictment said.
Frija, who was off-duty at the time, was also at the scene and mistook Castleman for one of the shooters, opening fire at him right after the two actual assailants were killed.
According to the indictment, Frija opened fire at Castleman despite another off-duty soldier calling on him to halt.
Frija continued shooting even after Castleman raised his hands in the air, took off his jacket, threw down his gun, and posed no danger, the indictment stated. It alleged that the shots fired after the warnings were the ones that caused Castleman’s death.
Video footage from the incident showed Castleman shouting “Don’t shoot” before being shot. Frija told police he thought Castleman was one of the terrorists.
The IDF said that the indictment was filed following an extensive Military Police investigation.
Frija’s lawyers Col. (res.) Shlomi Tzipori and Col. (res.) Ran Cohen Rochberger accused prosecutors of caving to “media pressure,” calling the charges an additional injustice beyond Castleman’s shooting.
Fija “acted completely in good faith and out of a sincere belief that he was stopping the massacre,” the lawyers said in a statement, describing him as a hero who saved lives.
“Contrary to the false impression, he didn’t shoot the deceased when he raised his hands to surrender, but when he made suspicious movements. He stopped shooting immediately when he believed the danger was over,” the attorneys said.
Three other people were killed and five were wounded during the terror attack, which was claimed by Hamas.
Castleman’s killing touched off public controversy over the military’s rules of engagement and some soldiers’ apparent disregard for them.
Israel Defense Forces protocols do not allow soldiers to shoot someone who raises their hands in the air, and officials said Frija’s conduct was not what was expected of him based on the norms and values of the military.
In April, the Department of Internal Police Investigations announced it was ending its probe of officers investigating the case, saying it did not find evidence supporting earlier suspicions they had intentionally tampered with the procedure.
State Attorney Amit Aisman in December ordered the probe into the police’s investigation of the incident after an autopsy found an M-16 bullet and pieces of shrapnel in Castleman’s exhumed body.
The findings were at odds with investigators’ position that there were no bullets left in Castleman’s body and that such a procedure was unnecessary.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
